Beckett, aware of the usefulness of a Wookiee's strength, rescues and enlists them in the gang to steal a shipment of coaxium on Vandor-1. Able to understand Chewbacca's language, Han persuades him to cooperate to escape. Han attempts to blackmail Beckett into letting him join the gang, but Beckett has him arrested and thrown into a pit to be fed to a Wookiee prisoner named Chewbacca. He encounters a trio of criminals posing as Imperial soldiers, led by Tobias Beckett. Three years later, Han is serving as an infantryman on Mimban following his expulsion from the Imperial Flight Academy for insubordination. Han vows to return for her and joins the Imperial Navy as a flight cadet, being given the surname 'Solo'. They bribe an Imperial officer with stolen starship fuel, known as coaxium, for passage on a transport, but Qi'ra is captured before she can board. On the planet Corellia, orphans Han and Qi'ra escape a local gang. It received a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards. It became the first live action Star Wars film to be a box office bomb, only grossing $393.2 million worldwide. Solo was released in North America on May 25, 2018, and received generally positive reviews from critics, which praised the cast (particularly Ehrenreich and Glover), visuals, score, and action sequences, while some criticized the storyline and screenplay.

Solo is one of the most expensive films ever made, with a budget of at least $275 million. Both were fired in June 2017 following creative differences with Lucasfilm, and Howard was hired as their replacement. Principal photography began in January 2017 at Pinewood Studios, with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. After Lucas sold Lucasfilm to The Walt Disney Company in 2012, Kasdan was hired to write Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), leaving his son Jonathan to complete the Solo script. George Lucas began developing a Han Solo prequel in 2012, and commissioned Lawrence Kasdan to write the screenplay. The film tells the origin story of Han Solo and Chewbacca, who join a heist within the criminal underworld ten years prior to the events of A New Hope. Alden Ehrenreich stars as Solo, with Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover, Thandiwe Newton, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Joonas Suotamo, and Paul Bettany. Directed by Ron Howard, produced by Lucasfilm, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the second Star Wars anthology film, following Rogue One (2016). Solo: A Star Wars Story is a 2018 American space Western film centering on the Star Wars character Han Solo.

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